Word continues to circulate in baseball circles that the Mets will be willing to discuss David Wright in trades this offseason as part of a complete facelift/rebuild away from Wright and Jose Reyes.
“We will listen on Wright for sure,” a Mets official told me during the week. “We know we are not going to win it all in 2012. We have to hope the Phillies get old and we are in position to take advantage of that in 2013-14, and we have to figure out ways to speed the process to get there.”
In other words, if the Mets could find the young, defensive-oriented center fielder they crave plus an arm or two in exchange for Wright, they will seriously consider it.
The team the Mets are focusing upon the most is the Angels, who they know have had interest in Wright previously and, in Mike Trout and Peter Bourjos, have two young center fielders. The Angels will not move Trout, who made his major league debut at 19 last year and is seen as a five-tool cornerstone to their future.
But Bourjos is a possibility. Two different talent evaluators told me they thought Bourjos was one of the three best defensive center fielders in the majors last year. Bourjos, who turns 25 in March, also hit .271 with 12 homers and 22 steals. If the Mets are able to get Bourjos and one or two arms from a group that includes Tyler Chatwood, Garrett Richards and John Hellweg, it could be enticing because there also would be a significant amount of saved money for 2012 — take your pick if that ends up in ownerships’ pockets or reinvested in payroll.
Dealing a popular established player such as Wright for relative unknowns would be a hard sell to an already embittered Mets fans base — especially if it coincides with losing Reyes this offseason, as well.
However, officials who have worked with Mets general manager Sandy Alderson depict a leader unafraid to make unpopular decisions if he believes it will be in the long-term good of the team. It is clear that Alderson is trying to accumulate as much high-level, cost-certain talent as possible to build around as a way to gain both long-term financial flexibility and the ability to make trades from a storehouse of strength.
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IF THE Mets’ plan really is to disassemble the last meaningful pieces from their 2006 NL East champs, then it does raise the question: Why were they not more proactive about dealing Reyes in July?
The Mets kept Reyes on what likely are to be two false premises: They were contenders, and they had a chance to retain the shortstop in free agency.
At best, the Mets were on the periphery of the race and planning to trade two of their best players (Carlos Beltran and Francisco Rodriguez) no matter what, which automatically was going to dim those slim chances. The Mets also had to suspect that Reyes’ value and the Mets’ monetary plight that they were going to be long shots to keep Reyes, which they believe now in a stronger way than ever.
The Mets will offer arbitration for Reyes, which means if he signs elsewhere they will receive two high draft picks in June 2012. That has value, but represents players unlikely to help the big club before, say, 2015. For Beltran, the Mets obtained Zach Wheeler, who Baseball America just named their No. 1 prospect. Reyes would have been an even more valuable piece in July than Beltran — remember, he had yet to suffer any hamstring woes in 2011. The Mets would have netted at least one and possibly two players in the Wheeler category.
In which case, they would not be waiting until June 2012 simply to draft new pieces. They would have the Beltran and Reyes bounty to add to Matt Harvey, Jeurys Familia and Jenrry Mejia. That likely would have given the Mets one of the dozen or so best prospect bases around and sped up the rebuilding process — even if their ownership/front office is loathe to use the “R” word.
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ON THE subject of NL East shortstops, I have been surprised how many folks expect Jimmy Rollins to leave the Phillies and return to his Northern California roots and sign with the Giants. That would leave Philadelphia with money (thanks to expiring contracts for Rollins, Roy Oswalt, Brad Lidge and Raul Ibanez) and a hole at shortstop. So the Phillies definitely could be players for Reyes.
“I think they will be in,” said an AL talent evaluator.
The Phillies, Tigers, Nationals, Marlins, Rangers and Blue Jays are viewed as organizations that will spend this offseason — and the first four can all be in play for Reyes. The Tigers could move Jhonny Peralta to third to accommodate Reyes, and the Marlins would have to do the same with Hanley Ramirez. The Nationals are hunting pitching and power first and foremost in this market. Reyes would be a secondary option if, for example, Prince Fielder did not come to D.C.
The Rangers and Blue Jays are expected to be very aggressive in trying to land Japanese ace Yu Darvish. And Toronto definitely has interest in free agent David Ortiz. If they sign Ortiz, the Jays plan to ask Edwin Encarnacion, who was the Jays’ DH in 70 games, to play some left field next year, though he has not played the outfield previously in the majors.
joel.sherman@nypost.com